superhuman

Word family

• superhumanly
  adverbC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Extraordinary is the most neutral and widely used of these words — it simply means very unusual or remarkable, without the extreme intensity of superhuman (e.g. 'She has an extraordinary talent for painting'). Phenomenal emphasises how amazing or surprising something is, often with a sense of wonder ('The team's recovery was phenomenal'). Herculean is the closest match to superhuman in terms of strength and effort, but it is specifically tied to tasks requiring huge physical or mental exertion, drawing on the myth of Heracles ('Moving all that furniture was a herculean task'). Miraculous goes a step beyond superhuman by suggesting something that seems impossible or divinely caused ('The patient's recovery seemed miraculous'). Choose superhuman when you want to highlight that the achievement surpasses normal human limits without implying magic; use miraculous only for events that feel almost impossible.

Common collocations

Etymology

Superhuman comes from the Latin prefix super- (meaning 'above' or 'beyond') combined with humanus ('human'). The word entered English in the early 1600s to describe qualities or beings that go beyond normal human limits — long before modern comic books popularised the idea of superheroes. It was formed on the model of earlier Latin words such as supernātūrālis ('supernatural').